COMP3000 Operating Systems 2023W

Note: this page's purpose is to host publicly available material linked from Brightspace. Please use Brightspace as the primary source of information to stay updated.

Course Outline

Aside from in Brightspace, you can also find it here.

⚠️ For all submissions (regardless of whether collaboration is allowed), the answers must be your own words. Any answers copy-pasted or rephrased from someone else with high resemblance are identified in your submission, you are subject to being reported to the Dean for plagiarism.

Tutorial Instructions

Tutorial 1

Jan 11, 2023 -- Jan 16, 2023: Instructions

Tutorial 2

Jan 18, 2023 -- Jan 23, 2023: Instructions

Tutorial 3

Jan 25, 2023 -- Jan 30, 2023: Instructions

Tutorial 4

Feb 1, 2023 -- Feb 6, 2023: Instructions

Tutorial 5

Mar 1, 2023 -- Mar 6, 2023: Instructions

Tutorial 6

Mar 8, 2023 -- Mar 13, 2023: Instructions

Tutorial 7

Mar 15, 2023 -- Mar 20, 2023: Instructions

Tutorial 8

Mar 22, 2023 -- Mar 27, 2023: Instructions

Tutorial 9

Mar 29, 2023 -- Apr 3, 2023: Instructions

How to Do Well in This Course

The goal here is to establish a conceptual model to understand how operating systems work to serve applications. It is not a course like math or data structures. To succeed, you need to be more hands-on and focus on figuring out how to find the answers (like learning to fish) instead of the answers alone (like being given a fish). Memorization of answers and algorithms are NOT the focus of this course. As you progress, you should be gradually able to imagine how various pieces of the OS fit together to function.

If you are asking a lot of "why"s, you are on the right track. Use all available resources (including the course material) as references, like a dictionary, to help answer your "why"s. For example, when you are asked about some information, based on your knowledge, think: 1) which part of the OS should have this information? 2) is it supposed to be available at the point in question? 3) then how do you retrieve that information? e.g., any tool/command/funcion call? For sure, this would not be possible if you are just getting started, so a bit of confusion at the beginning is normal. As you move on, the conceptual model will become clearer as the basis for your thinking.

Reading the textbook is encouraged but not mandatory, and not all of it will be covered (involved chapters will be posted along with the lectures in Brightspace). The exams and assignments are based on lectures and tutorials. So, make sure you have sufficient understanding of both.